Here it is boys and girls. My BrickWorld 2009 display in all its glory! I present to you, the Zodiac Attack Platoon (ZAP for short)! This little project has taken me over three months to complete and most of my meager collection of brick. The background build is 48 studs high and 96 studs long just on it’s own. Each symbol of the zodiac is represented as best as I could in lego form. And now, on with the rest of the mocs! Enjoy!

Aries -

First up, “Aries,” Also known as “The Ram.”

That’s right, do a little turn for the people. Show off that chassis baby.

This was actually the last moc I did for this project. I knew I wanted to do a ship with a battering ram on the front but never was able to come up with something that I liked. Still not 100% on this one, but what the heck, it works and I’m runnin outta bricks.

Gemini - Next up, “Gemini.” Some of you may remember the basic concept here from my post of wips that didn’t make the final cut.

I like this version much better for a couple of reasons.

One, despite being two separate ships, even when attached it’s still quite swooshable!

And two, this design doesn’t make you think of Madonna videos from the 80’s when you look at it.

They call this “attack pattern 69”… Moving on!

pisces And here we come to a moc that I’m also not happy with. Pisces was always going to be an attack boat but I could never get it “just right.” Still didn’t in the end.

Oh well, on it’s own it would never get posted, but hopefully it’ll get lost in the shuffle.

Just keep moving people… nothing to see here.

Leo

This D#@N thing went through about 40 different revisions!

They say Leo’s are stubborn and this one was no different. I wanted to make it a mech but the legs would just NEVER work. Man, where is Kescenovitz when I need him?

For the final concept, I decided to go with a tracked vehicle. This is what happens when you throw your hands up and just say “F&%K IT! I’M DONE!” Good thing here is that this actually worked well in the end.

Cancer

One of the better overall designs is “Cancer.”

I really like the way the legs turned out on this one.

Sure, I wish I coulda got the body a little more rounded but hey, “rounded” and “LEGO” are two words that seldom go together in the same sentence. On the whole, I’m pretty satisfied with how this one turned out.

Sagittarius

Some of you probably won’t get this one right off the bat. This is my interpretation of Sagittarius, also known as the archer.

Get it.. archer… stays behind and rains down missles from afar?

I like the A-symmetry of this design. Tracked on one side and wheeled on the other. Really no practical use for it, but it just looks cool. There’s also a gunners turret in the middle for those pesky infantry that always slip through the front lines.

Taurus

Taurus, the bull. My first thought here was similar to Aires with it being a fighter that rammed into stuff.

In the end, I went with guns for the horns and gave the front a muscular shoulder area to mimic the look of a bull.

No Lee, that’s not a big poop coming out the back. I gave him a tail that is also a rear firing cannon… I’ll let you guys fill in your own jokes here.

Scorpio

Scorpio. The first moc built for this project and the only one that didn’t go through 400,000 revisions. I really liked the first design I came up with and just stuck to it.

I did redo the tail gun a few times, but that’s more just fiddling than revision.

And remember kids, if you fiddle with it too much, you’ll grow hair on your palms and go blind. Did I mention I wear contacts?

Aquarius

My original idea for a Aquarius here was another fast attack boat. That was that big blue box thing that you saw in a previous post. Then I got to thinking about it…

Aquarius… the water carrier… water carrier… ohhh water… carrier! DUH! Seemed so simple in retrospect.

But they do say hindsight is 20/20. And I gotta admit, when I’m sighting good hind… it’s always 20/20! (I did mention I wear contacts right?)

This was the second version of this build. The first was about 12 studs shorter and had WAY too many colors in it. Oh and look, there’s even cute little snub fighters on the deck.

Virgo

Many of you will remember “Virgo” here from my “WIP it out” post.

Virgo… the virgin. Not the easiest thing to translate into lego. I mean sure, this is the perfect site to be on for inspiration in that regard. Where better to find those than on a lego site?

In the end, I just went with an all white moc. White = purity… Purity = virgin… I know, it’s a stretch. I work with what I got!

Take a good look. It’s not often that you see a virgin showing her rear on the internet… ok, that’s not entirely true, but… never mind.

Capricorn

Ok, you remember that grey ship at the bottom of the “wip it out” post that I had no idea where it would go? This is it. Looks NOTHING like the original does it?

We all know by now that the theme for BrickWorld this year is “world of lights.” The coolest feature of this moc is that the sides are made of smoked trans bricks and there’s a hatch on top for me to slip my light effect down inside. Neat idea huh?

Yet another zodiac sign that I had no idea what I was going to do with. I mean come on… SCALES? REALLY? How can THAT be intimidating? I mean unless you’re a contestant on “The Biggest Loser” of course.

My original plan was to go with a space station. I tried a few ideas and it just never came together so I decided to base it on land.

I really like how the waterfall turned out. I wish I had more bricks for the mountain but that’s every lego geeks downfall. You can NEVER have enough bricks. Green tiles on the other hand, I have 4 too many of… exactly 4 too many. Ask Shaddix.

This is another moc with the light up feature. Both the Libra building itself and the water are designed for the light feature. The top of the scales comes off and the center of the whole building is hollow. Also, there’s a one brick high gap under the water. You can see the lighter blue along with the dark blue tiles underneath the trans. That’s where the top layer is supported and it gives it that “reef” effect as an added bonus.

Hope you all enjoyed this little project. I’ll try to get some pics of the whole thing lit up at BrickWorld!

Fourth wall commentary: Yeap, the whole post is fourth wall. I originally tried to come up with cool acronyms for each name but decided that they were getting too repetitive. Here’s a few that I came up with before I gave up that little concept…

I hope you can make it out to BrickWorld to check out not only this, but all the other cool stuff too! I'm so upset that I won't be there for the "World of Lights" display and to be honest, I'm not so sure it’s a good idea to turn the lights out with Kelso around, he tends to get a little… clingy. He claims he’s just nervous in the dark, but we know better. And speaking of Kelso, let me tell you guys something here (And I'm actually gonna be nice here for a sec, so pay attention). If I didn't have feeling of inadequacy before, now my stuff is on the same table as Mark's! You guys think the "Rusty Ferret" looks cool on MOCpages, you should REALLY see that thing in person! Amazing! Alright, I’ve talked enough. See you all there! And Dennis… leave the goat at home please.

Quoting Leda Kat
Wow, so much work. That Libra base is simply beautiful. The water effect and the waterfall and the tower and scales, so pretty. Also love Cancer the Crab and Taurus (thats me!) big brown tank. Great stuff. Did I mention that Libra base is beautiful? Love the water... can't wait till BW 2011 when I can actually get to see your stuff in the flesh! And your lego creations too!

Read that whole comment... was flattered throughout... got to the end and... that's all I remember about it. HAHAHA ~ Chris.

Wow, so much work. That Libra base is simply beautiful. The water effect and the waterfall and the tower and scales, so pretty. Also love Cancer the Crab and Taurus (thats me!) big brown tank. Great stuff. Did I mention that Libra base is beautiful? Love the water... can't wait till BW 2011 when I can actually get to see your stuff in the flesh! And your lego creations too!

Your Mocs are so great. This first one here was so simple but it was amazing not allot of detail but just great. Good choice of colors and a good choice for a mosaic. We at the BrickburgLUG would like to invite you to our group. We hope to see you there! ~Owen Williams

As you said, it must have been hard setting up next to Kelso, but you definitely held your own. I love the backboard with the signs and the accompanying mocs. My favorite is Leo, especially since it's my sign. Great stuff Chris.

As a Capricorn I love Goat head too! Still, innappropriate puns aside I think these are great. I was intrigued as to what you would do with some of the less 'obvious' themes as I read down the page but i think they all turned out well, especially Aquarius and Libra.
Thanks for the comment on my vig by the way - there's more to follow.

It was a great display, Chris! In fact, you should make sure that you don't dismantle any of these for a long time because they really...what?...you mean those were the ones we smashed to holy hades?...oh...well, never mind then.

A great bunch of mocs, though being a cancer I must say that the crab does have a lot more interesting shapes to model than you captured in your craft....hmmm maybe I'll try one. excellent Libra base by the way great way to use the concept.

Not easy to write something about TWELWE awesome MOCs, not including the beautiful background !!! Everybody knew you're a great builder of minifigs stories, but here you've proved you're also able to do an amazing serie of sci-fi MOCs, always featuring humour ! I'm just a fan of your display, congratulations ! PS My favorites are "Cancer" and "Aquarius" :)

What a nice concept. Good stuff. I noticed I liked the ones that were too literal (cancer, scorpio) less than the others though. It's good to keep people guessing and not just get it at one glance. The libra tower is a great and surprising idea, so I think I like that one best. Sagittarius and Aqaurius are also very good. Oh, and about your pisces: recently I made several attempts at making something cool with the same colours. But to me, these different shades of blue will always turn out to be UGLY together. I don't know what it is, but it always does. It wasn't until I added some grey that the ship turned cool again. *sigh*

Who was that guy who commented you commented more than building. Nice stuff and a good chance to air out your collection. I bet it likes getting out for the weekend, staying in a nice hotel. see ya. garth

I see Eggplant's and Darin's comment and raise you this: Chris, you are AWESOOOM!!!!

I like it

Thomas N

June 19, 2009

Wow these are great Chris, I really wish I could be at Brickworld, Oh, well, my favorite is the Aquarious, but that may just be because I'm an Aquarious. But I really like the concept of a space carrier. ~T

I like it

George Kemper

June 19, 2009

I wasn't sure what stuff was yours and what was Kelso's but this was a great idea to do. Also when are you going to post day 2 of Brickworld? See you tomorrow! Oh and I'm sorry you can't make the World of Lights display its going to be great, but hey I'll take some pics for you (dont expect alot from many people though I'll just send you pics of mine LOL). By the way I should get your e-mail I dont have it.-George

You had me at "First up, Aries". Brilliant work man, great concept and also not easy to build a large number of mocs all in one theme but you pulled it off nicely. Gotta go with Gemini for me fave, cuz that's whats I ams! PS: give Mr Gugick a tickle for me!

Holy $h!+ Phipson! You've outdid yourself! The concept is fantastic! I see your Virgo is about to spread some eag... Does it volt-in with the goat, I mean, Capricorn Battle Cruiser? Home Base Libra sealed the deal!

I'm glad your "Cancer" did not get more round, that look is very original, and elegant (btw the legs are simply bionicle claws stck vertically uner it :p). I also liked the "Libra" base, and your "Aries" uses the same concept as this old fighter of mine http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/111399 :) Like you, I don'd like "Pisces" very much, but the "Sagittarius" is great. I'm really bad at asymmetric building...